How to build an inner city aquarium – an update
Sad news.
A year ago our friends Blake and Alexis showed you how to build an inner city aquarium. Well, if you’re following their instructions, you might need to hit the brakes. Here’s what Blake had to say…
We had to abandon the fish tank recently due to health concerns.
The poor buggers kept getting sick. We figured it was the water quality or pH, so we did a few tests, which were inconclusive.
Even with water conditioners and fish medicine, they kept dying. So, despite the advice from the aquarium guy to “Just keep buying more fish,” we eventually decided it would be best to to fill up the old shipping crate with soil and focus on the creation of life rather than death.
So far, we’ve been much more successful with garlic chives than with goldfish.
Since the Internet allows one to be an instant expert in everything, I thought I’d follow up a hunch about leaching of toxic chemicals into the water.
My first reaction was that an old shipping crate would have been treated with nasties to stop the wood rotting. But then I saw “bitumen”. A search on “bitumen toxic fish” soon reveals that the generic term bitumen covers many things, and some of them are quite toxic.
Could this be the cause?
Stilgherrian
17 Jan 10 at 5:43 am
Stilgherrian I think you might be right.
When we bought the bitumen the guy at the hardware store said it was safe enough to be used to treat tanks holding drinking water, but, since our pond was exposed to a few hours of direct sunlight a day, the bitumen started to crack and bubble.
So my guess is either the degraded bitumen or the metallic lining (most likely zinc) of the crate is to blame.
blake
17 Jan 10 at 11:59 am
Oh dear, Blake, yes the bubbling sounds a worry. Chemicals do weird things when exposed to long hours of sunlight. Shame about the fish. Good luck with the herbs.
Stilgherrian
17 Jan 10 at 8:38 pm
I felt sooooo sad when I read about the attempt at creating a fishpond in Womerah Lane… and the goldfish that gave their all the experiment but the garlic chives will probably be more enjoyable and certainly will be a conversation starter!
Kerrie
20 Jan 10 at 6:12 pm
Could you not simply add a glass lining and silicone the joints – or add a glass tank inside the tub?
OurLittleJaunt
26 Jan 10 at 9:52 am
Thanks for the update. Sad to hear about the poor fish. Just a thought though, if the fish couldn’t handle it would it be safe for your guys to eat the herbs?
Brad
27 Jan 10 at 11:39 am
I suppose I am just more interested by what’s inside the tank than the tank itself.
Alex MC
3 Mar 10 at 11:06 am
the best thing would probably have been to line the tank with pond liner. That way the water would never come in contact with the actual sides. Just do some tight folding at the sides and the fish would have been fine.
Taby
20 Dec 10 at 8:11 am